Pages

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Decided to add another page specifically for Reference Material.
Will likely be dedicated to stuff that is not game rule specific, but rather to things that are just nice to know, or useful to have on hand to help the game (or the creation process) along.

I thought "a lot of people must have a hard time estimating distances,
i know it happens at my table a lot." I should get a better feel for
the reality of the Range categories in this game. If for no other reason than
just to have as a helpful reference.

I cracked open my book and a spreadsheet. I figured i would start by
outlining the most clearly defined real measurements. I didn't get far before i
realized i was going to have to make a couple of assumptions to get more than
just a few 'clearly defined' measurements.
My relevant assumptions were as follows.
A few = 3 (a pretty standard assumption i think)
Several = 6 (smack dab in the middle of a few and a dozen)
I went back to my task of seeing what i could gleam from the book.
numbers with an "a" in front like "a6000" means i used
one of my assumptions. Where no clear number was indicated and no assumption
was really possible i left a question mark.

LITERAL (sort of) INTERPRETATION

range band

Description

~ distance

Personal Scale

Engaged

Close enough to interact person to person. Close enough to reach
out and touch it.

0

?

m

Personal Scale

Short Range

up to several meters between targets. Can talk comfortably
without raising voices.

?

a6

m

Personal Scale

Medium Range

up to several dozen meters away. Need to talk loudly to hear
each other.

?

a72

m

Personal Scale

Long Range

further than a few dozen meters. Must yell loudly to hear each
other.

>36

?

m

Personal Scale

Extreme range

cant hear each other even shouting.

?

?

m

Planetary scale

Close range

slightly further than extreme range in personal. Up to several
km.

?

a6

km

Planetary scale

Short Range

up to roughly several dozen km

6

a72

km

Planetary scale

Medium Range

something is within medium range if it is within roughly fifty
km. long enough that only the most powerful artillery can reach it

?

<51

km

Planetary scale

Long Range

anywhere from a hundred to two hundred km away. Engagements
never happen at this distance.

51

<201

km

Planetary scale

Extreme range

athe far edge of a vehicles scanners. Weapons can not hope to
reach.

?

?

km

Space Scale

Close range

uncomfortably close for capital ships. Dogfight range.

?

?

km

Space Scale

Short Range

just out of dogfighting range. Uncomfortably close for capital
ships.

?

?

km

Space Scale

Medium Range

Up to a few hundred Km.

?

300

km

Space Scale

Long Range

up to several thousand km

301

a6000

km

Space Scale

Extreme range

beyond most weapon ranges.

a60001

?

km

as you can see... the book was not very helpful in regards to real numbers
(it's ok.. it's supposed to be narrative!)

so, this didn't seem like it would be much help in giving people a better
way to estimate range bands.
I did some looking into real life distances for; line of sight, voice
travel, 'modern' dogfights, artillery weapons and some other things. I used
some of this information to help estimate some more distances. After i had
filled in some more numbers i did some comparing of ranges across the different
scales. I tried to leave all the 'hard' numbers from the book as they were.
Then i filled them out in a way that made as much sense as i could manage.

So for those who have a hard time Estimating distances or really don't
understand the range bands.
I present to you, my best effort at giving you some hard numbers to use as a
guide when determining range.

approximate Range band distances

range band

Description

from

to

Personal Scale

Engaged

Close enough to interact person to person. Close enough to reach
out and touch it.

0

1

m

Personal Scale

Short Range

up to several meters between targets. Can talk comfortably
without raising voices.

2

6

m

Personal Scale

Medium Range

up to several dozen meters away. Need to talk loudly to hear
each other.

7

60

m

Personal Scale

Long Range

further than a few dozen meters. Must yell loudly to hear each
other.

61

300

m

Personal Scale

Extreme range

cant hear each other even shouting.

301

780

m

Planetary scale

Close range

slightly further than extreme range in personal. Up to several
km.

0

5

km

Planetary scale

Short Range

up to roughly several dozen km

6

24

km

Planetary scale

Medium Range

something is within medium range if it is within roughly fifty
km. long enough that only the most powerful artillery can reach it

25

50

km

Planetary scale

Long Range

anywhere from a hundred to two hundred km away. Engagements
never happen at this distance.